[obol] Re: RFI Wrentit in Hood River Co.
- From: Mark Nikas <elepaio@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 18 Feb 2015 09:41:02 -0800
It has been my experience that records invalidated by the eBird reviewer
are excluded for most normal searches one does of eBird data. If you bring
up a checklist for birds seen in Hood River county Wrentit is not on it.
If you search for Wrentit sightings in Hood River county none show up. The
only way you would see this record is in the individual checklist the
birder entered. It may show up in if you get daily rare bird alerts for a
specific site. It would be visible if you were searching the records for
another species that was not flagged and brought up the individual
checklist for that species. Unless you're really digging though such
records remain hidden away.
I'm guessing the eBird folks don't want to deal with the repercussions of
telling birders that their records don't pass muster. I know that reviewers
contact birders for more info about some sightings but I think many others
that are obviously erroneous are just flagged as erroneous and never come
up in normal database searches. They are quietly dismissed and nobody's
skills are questioned. I get the national RBA daily alert from eBird and I
regularly see obvious bad records like a flock of Gray-crowned
Yellowthroats with a note such as "they are always at my feeders". I doubt
the local reviewer would waste time asking for verification for such
sightings. The record will remain for all the observer's private lists
though. This seems like a good way to handle such reports. Let the
individual count what they want but leave questionable records out of the
general database.
Mark Nikas
On Wed, Feb 18, 2015 at 9:05 AM, Wayne Weber <contopus@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Jeff and Oregon Birders,
>
>
>
> This report of a Wrentit at Lost Lake has apparently been invalidated by
> the local eBird reviewer/editor, because it does not appear in eBird maps
> of the distribution of this species.
>
>
>
> One of the problems with using eBird data, which may not be understood by
> everyone who uses eBird, is that invalidated records (i.e., those
> considered to be erroneous or questionable by reviewers) are NOT marked as
> such on checklists, and appear to be perfectly valid records. Invalidated
> records do not appear on maps, and are not part of the main eBird database,
> but unless they are withdrawn or deleted by the observer, these records
> will still appear on checklists. If you are looking at a checklist, and
> one or more sightings appear to be questionable, you should double-check to
> make sure it shows up on a map before accepting the sighting as valid.
>
>
>
> The failure to label invalidated records on checklists, in my opinion, is
> one of the biggest problems in using eBird data currently. I’m sure that
> the eBird staff recognize this as a serious problem, and that they plan to
> fix it, but I suspect that it will take a significant amount of computer
> programming to rectify this problem.
>
>
>
> Wayne C. Weber
>
> Delta, BC
>
> contopus@xxxxxxxxx
>
> eBird reviewer/editor for Metro Vancouver, BC
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* obol-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:obol-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] *On
> Behalf Of *J Hayes
> *Sent:* February-17-15 9:19 PM
> *To:* Oregon Birders OnLine
> *Subject:* [obol] RFI Wrentit in Hood River Co.
>
>
>
> Hello, birders
>
> I've come across a report of a Wrentit at Lost Lake in Hood River County
> July 12 2014. Here's the eBird checklist link:
>
> www.ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S19089151
>
> Does anyone know of any prior records of this species in Hood River
> County? I could not find any. Your help is appreciated.
>
> Jeff Hayes
>
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